Improved composition substitute for



, acter to my invention may be divided into two classes. The first of these classes includes flexibility, and have been applied to very few UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT. HAERING. OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED COMPOSITIONSUBSTITUTI: FORHORN, H ARDRUBBER. 6w.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,406,- dated September 9. 1.862.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT HAERING, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and improved composition applicable as a substitute for horn and ebony, and adapted for the manufacture of combs, knife and brushhandles, billiard-balls, boxes, pipes, pencilacases, portfolio-covers, miniatureoases, buttons, and other articles; and I do hereby declare chat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the component parts of and manner of preparing, compounding, and treating the same.

I will first remark that all productions.hitherto employed having any resemblance in char those composed of gum-shellac, resins, gelatine, dextrine, legumiue, and size, combined with such pigments asalumina, chalk, and metallic salts in various proportions, incorporated together by heat andpressure, all of which compounds are easily fractured, possess very little uses. The second class is the product obtained' by heat from india-rubber, guttapen cha, and sulphur. This product constitutes a more. valuable substitute for horn, butlacks several qualities which are essential or desirable to make it-answer well for many purposes. to which attemptshave been made to apply it. For example, in very cold weather it becomes brittle and breaksnearly as easily as glass. It is also so susceptible to electrical excitements that when employed for combs it so greatly disorders the hair that manyret'usc to use them but the greatest of all objections to it is its expense, in consequence of the high price of india-rubber and gut'ta-percha.

The object of my invention is to obtaiaa substance which is free from the above objections, is strong hard, flexible, and susceptible of a high polish, and which at the same time is so cheap a substitute for horn and ebony that this department of manufacture may be greatly extended.

To make my improved composition Iiirst obtain the peculiar product resulting from the action of protochloride of sulphur upon lin-- seed-oil. To do this I put ten (10) pounds of linseed-oil in a widemouthed open bowl. Next mix thoroughly one (1) pound of protochloride two hours.

of sulphur with three (3) pounds of bisnlpliide of carbon, and pour the mixture into the iinseed-oil, stirring the oil briskly during the time of the pouring in and for afew minutes afterward with a porcelain spatula. When; the oil has become coagulated, which will he in about one hour, it is taken from the bowl, placed in the sun, and allowed to dry and become deodorized, which will be done in about Of the product thus obtained, which I will call changed linseed-oil, itake ten (10) pounds and add to it four (4) pounds of the asphalt-like residuum of palm-oil tar (a.

- product well-known to manufacturers of shearine candles from palm-oil) or of asphaltum in a pulverized state. and then add two (2) pounds of flowers of sulphur and four (4) pounds of crude gutta-percha. I then knead or masticate these substances into one homogeneous Y and uniform mass between the ordinary iron. rollers used for such purposes. The compound is next rolled into a sheet, pressedinto molds of any desired form or laid on a polished mare;

ble, iron, or other suitable slab or sheet, and

put into an oven or heater and subjected to dry or steam heat, (preferably thelatter,) at a temperature of from 300 to 350 Fahrenheit, for from five'to seven hours, according to the thickness of the mass or form to be hardened, and the piecesor articles are then cut, turned, or otherwise finished and polished. by the means commonly known and in general usefor finishing and polishing other substances of similar character.

The proportions of the several substances usedxin the composition may be variedto a considerable extent'fromwhat I have described. without materially changingrthe charactor of the composition. I have only specified those proportions for the reason that I at present believe that, all things considered, they give the best result.

I do not claim to have invented the process herein described of treating linseed-oil with protochloride of sulphur and bisu'lphide of carbon; but I What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

ihe composition made by the mixing of the changed linseedbil with asphalt, sulphur, and gutta-percha, in the manner and in about the proportions heroin specified.

RQBERT HAERING.

Witnesses J AMES'LAXRD, Bronuanson GAWLEY. 

